Total November sales from China’s official lottery products sold on the mainland increased by 10.8 percent year-on-year to approximately CNY42.72 billion (US$6.20 billion), according to official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance.
The growth recorded last month was supported by a 20.1-percent year-on-year increase in sports lottery sales, to CNY23.00 billion. Welfare lottery sales totalled CNY19.72 billion, slightly up by 1.6 percent from the prior-year period.
Combined sales for the two lottery systems during the first 11 months of this year amounted to CNY468.45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.0 percent. Welfare lottery sales increased by 3.9 percent year-on-year to reach about CNY305.95 billion, while sales of sports lottery products rose by 38.7 percent to CNY264.50 billion.
In November, sales were up in 24 of the 31 provinces and cities of mainland China authorised to sell lottery tickets. Guangdong remained mainland China’s biggest single-province market for lottery products in the first 11 months of 2018, with total lottery ticket sales reaching CNY44.55 billion in the period, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier.
Guangdong was followed by Shandong province, where total lottery ticket sales were CNY36.88 billion, an increase of 21.4 percent from the prior-year period. Zhejiang province ranked third with ticket sales of nearly CNY 34.27 billion in the 11 months to November 30, an increase of 28.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the official data.
In August the authorities in mainland China updated the regulations concerning the country’s official lottery. Such update – effective from October 1 onward – aims to reduce red tape for the authorisation of offline sales of lottery products, several experts conducting research into the industry told GGRAsia.
But uncertainties remain as to whether the Chinese authorities will lift a suspension – in place since 2015 – regarding online sales of official lottery products.
